Pavement and railway combined



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

B. C. SMITH, OF BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY.

PAVEMENT AND RAILWAY COMBINED.

l Specication of Letters Patent No. 31,131, dated January 15, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BARGILLAI C. SMITH, of Burlington, Burlington county, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Iron Pavement and Railway Combined; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing. and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists of a pavement composed of a series of solid cast iron plates each plate having a number of transverse ribs or their equivalents, and a longitudinal rib forming a rail the upper surface of the latter being level with that ofthe said transverse ribs and the ribs being cut away near the rail for the free passage of the ianges of the car wheel in the manner described hereafter.

The object of my invention is to form a combined 'pavement and railway over and across which ordinary vehicles can pass with greater ease than over the combined pavement and railways heretofore used.

In order to enable others to make my invention I will now proceed to describe the manner of constructing the same.

A series of solid cast iron plates are secured together in the manner described in my patent of Sep. 22d 1857, or by any other mode which will insure the whole of the plates being maintained at a uniform level, care being taken in laying the plates to break joints as in my said patent of 1857.

On the upper surface ofthe plate represented by the accompanying drawing which represents my improvement in perspective is a rib A wide enough for the tread of ordinary car wheels and high enough to prevent the flanges ofthe wheels fromtouch ing tlie surface of the plate.

The rib A of one plat-e coincides with that of the adjacent plate and so on throughout the whole series thus forming a continuous rail two or more of which may be formed in the width of the pavement according to theA number of tracks required.

B C are a series of ribs cast to the plate on each side of the rail A, Aboth sets of ribs being at right angles to the said rail and projecting to the same height as the latter above the plate.

The ribs B join the rail A but the ribs C are so far from the latter as to leave a space for the flanges of the wheels.

It will be seen that while the rails A are adapted to receive the wheels of city railway and other cars the ribs B and C afford a proper roughened surface for the horses feet, it will also be seen that as the upper surface of the transverse ribs is on a level with that of the rail the wheels of ordinary vehicles can traverse over the pavement with greater ease than over a pavement with the usual projecting rails, and that the ends of the transverse ribs where they are cut away to afford a passage for the flanges of the car wheels also afford a medium by which the wheels of ordinary vehicles Vare enabled to cross the street at any angle, and by which that tendency which the wheels have to follow the line of the rails in ordinary city railways is obviated.

I wish it to be understood that I do not claim broadly a cast iron pavement and railway combined, but that I limit my claim to and desire to obtain Letters Patent for- A cast iron pavement composed of solid plates each plate having a longitudinal rib or ribs A, forming a rail for car' wheels and transverse ribs B and C or their equivalents, when the upper surface of the rail is level with that of the said transverse ribs and when the latter are cut away near the rails as herein set forth for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof, I yhave signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

B. C. SMITH.

Witnesses:

HENRY HowsoN, CHARLES D. FREEMAN. 

